Havana Bay

'God knows, I respect idealism,' O'Brien said, 'but let me put it this way, as a result these properties have not been developed to their maximum. There's an opportunity here to create something of enormous value for the Cuban people.'

'Is that where you come in?'

'I hope so. Arkady, I was a developer. Still am. George can tell you I'm not sneaky. Disney's sneaky. When they start buying up land they form a little corporation that sounds like your neighbors trying a little preservation, buying an acre here, an acre there and then you wake up one morning and there's a two-hundred-foot mouse outside your window. I'm up front. Every developer wants one great landmark development, his own Eiffel Tower or Disneyland. I want to make the Havana Yacht Club once again the center of the Caribbean, bigger and better than ever.'

Walls took over.» See, the government developed Varadero Beach and Cayo Largo because they wanted to keep tourists as far from Cubans as possible. But tourists want Havana. They want the girls at the Tropi-cana and strolling in Havana Vieja and dancing all night at the Palacio de la Salsa. The government's finally getting the right idea, restoring the Malecon, rebuilding old hotels, because what tourists want is style. Fortunately, by a miracle, the Havana Yacht Club is in great condition.'

'Its upkeep drains the state of half a million pesos a year. George, tell him it could be making the state thirty million dollars a year.'

'It could,' Walls said.

O'Brien pointed to the club and beach.» That's conference center, restaurant, nightclub, twenty suites, twenty rooms, time shares or condo that can be explored. Plus spa, berthing for boats, you want luxury cruisers. What I'm describing to you, Arkady, is a gold mine waiting for someone to pick up a shovel.'

Arkady couldn't help wondering why two well-placed American fugitives would share their aspirations with him, although he sensed that O'Brien was the sort of salesman who enjoyed his own performance, like an actor who could deliver the most outrageous lines while he winked at the audience. Since Arkady's construction experience had been in Siberia, he felt at a loss at luxury cost projections.» To make the club into a hotel might be expensive.'

'Twenty million,' Walls took over.» We'd find the money and the Cuban government wouldn't put up a single peso or dollar.'

'A lot of people,' O'Brien said modestly, 'would call that a gift.'

'And what do you want in return?' Arkady asked.

O'Brien said, 'Guess.'

'I don't have the faintest idea.'

O'Brien leaned forward as if sharing a secret.» Last year an Indian casino in Connecticut, in the-excuse my language-fucking north woods, with no sex, no style, no sun, cleared one hundred million dollars. What do you think a casino set among palm trees and cruise ships and million-dollar yachts and the famous, reborn Havana Yacht Club might possibly take in? I don't know, but I'd love to find out.'

'We're asking for a twenty-five-year lease of the old La Concha casino and an even split of profits with the Cuban government,' Walls said.» It's a no-risk situation for them, but there's a political problem in that they made such a big deal about closing casinos after the Revolution.'

'Closing casinos and closing the Mafia,' O'Brien said.» Which was why, with the CIA, the Mafia tried to kill the President.'

'Castro, he means,' Walls said.» And it's not easy to get Cubans to reverse direction. It would stop us cold if there was even a hint any Mafia, American or Russian, was involved. Our casino has to be absolutely clean.'

'Any project at an early point,' said O'Brien, 'is like a bubble, anything can burst it. Your friend Pribluda was going to be our protection from the sort of Russians who are, I assure you, swarming into the Caribbean like the Visigoths. The wrong people showing up at the wrong time can burst the bubble. Which is why I told George we should take the boat and get a certain Russian investigator off the Yacht Club dock before anyone else heard you were there.'

'And brings us back to the question,' Walls reminded Arkady.» Why were you at the club?'

Arkady felt like a can between two expert can openers. The photograph of the Havana Yacht Club was in his pocket. However, he wasn't in the mood to offer to strangers what he had kept at some cost in blood from the sergeant.

'In four more days I'll be back in Moscow and it won't matter why I went to the club.'

'Why go back?' O'Brien asked.» Stay here.'

Walls said, 'Pribluda's gone. I hate to put it this way, but there is an opening now.'

Arkady took a moment to understand the new direction of the conversation.» An opening for me?'

'Maybe,' O'Brien stressed.» You don't mind if we got to know you a little better before we offered you a position?'

'A position?' Arkady asked.» That sounds even better than work. You don't know me at all.'

'Oh, I don't?' O'Brien said.» Let me guess. In your forties, right? Disappointed in your work. It's evident you're bright but you're still just an investigator? A little reckless, working too close to the edge, inviting disaster. Except for the coat, cheap clothes, cheap shoes, signs of an honest man. But the way things are in Moscow now you must feel like a fool. And personal life? I'm taking a stab in the dark, but I'd say you don't have one. No wife, maybe not even kids. Zero, dead end. And that's what you can't wait to get back to in only four more days? I'm not trying to suck you into a criminal endeavor, I'm opening you a door on the ground floor of the biggest project in the Caribbean Basin. Maybe you'd rather soak up vodka and freeze to some fucking miserable death in Moscow, I don't know. All I can do is offer you an opportunity for a second chance at life.'

'Not a bad guess.'

O'Brien smiled in a not unkind way.» Ask yourself this, Arkady, will you be missed in Moscow? Is there anyone you can't say good-bye to on the phone? Is there anyone you'll miss?'

'Yes,' Arkady said, a second late.

'Sure. Let me tell you about the saddest picture in the world. The saddest picture in the world is in the Prado Museum in Spain, it was painted by Goya and it's a picture of a dog in the water. You just see its head and muddy water swirling around and the dog's big eyes looking up. The dog could be taking a swim, except that the title Goya gave it is Drowning Dog. I look at you and I see those eyes. You're drowning, and I'm trying to give you a hand out of the water. Have you got the nerve to take it?'

'And the money?' Arkady asked, just to play the fantasy out.

'Forget the money. Yes, you'd be rich, have a Cuban villa, car, boat, girls, whatever, that's not the point. The point is you'd have a life and you'd be enjoying it.'

'How would I do that?'

'Your visa can be changed,' Walls took over.» We have friends who can extend your visa and you can stay as long as you like.'

'You wouldn't worry then about me being at the Havana Yacht Club?'

'Not if you were on the team,' Walls said.

'We're not offering a free ride,' O'Brien said, 'but you'd be part of something big, something to be proud of. All we're asking in return is one miserable token of trust from you. Why were you at the Havana Yacht Club? How did you get the idea?'

Before Arkady could answer, the boat was surrounded by upwelling light. He looked over the side, and in the water a thousand spoons reflected the sun.

'Bonito,' O'Brien said.

'They always go east to west?' Arkady asked.

'Against the current,' Walls said.» Tuna go against the current, so do the marlin, and eventually the boats do, too.'

'A strong current?'

'The Gulf Stream, sure.'

'Going towards the bay?'

'Yes.'

First one and then by the dozens the fish exploded from the water. Iridescent, glassy arcs surrounded the Gavilan and salt spray rained. In seconds the entire school had scattered, replaced by a